Refrigerator door closure preventive means



March S, 1960 w. G. EoFF 2,927,546

REFRIGERATOR DOOR CLOSURE PREVENTIVEYMEANS Filed June l0. 3.95? 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Parerig REFRIGERATOR DooR cLosURn PREvENrIvE MEANS My invention relates to a means to prevent an unintentional closure of a refrigerator door.v

Every year thousands of ice boxes and refrigerators are abandoned but not destroyed. These abandoned refrigerators appear to be very attractive to children and many have crawled into them to their death. In other words they were suiocated when the door closed on them.

Many means have been devised whereby an entrapped person may open the door from the inside. Most of these devices are very complicated and costly and require specially designed refrigerators for their installation.

I have attacked the problem of the refrigerator from an entirely different pointof view.V My objective is to provide a device so constructed that a child cannot crawl into the refrigerator without bringing into operation the means which prevents either the child or someone else from closing the door. Another objective is to provide a device which may be installed in any refrigerator now in use. A further objective is to provide a device which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture and install.

How these objectives-are metvis illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a horizontal section through a refrigerator showing in plan to the left of center one-half ofthe door closure preventive means D and to the right one-half the shelfA S in place; Fig. 2 is a front elevation relative to Figi; Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevation of the blocking-'arm with the operating-bar attached; Fig. Y4 is a front elevation of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is an elevation similar to Fig. 3 but in connection with a mounting pad; Fig. 6 is a side view of clip to hold the blockingV ar'min inoperative position, Fig. 7 is a partial side -view of an operating-bar formed in two sections bolted together with the bolt holes in one section elongated to permit adjustment to length of the operating-bar.

Throughout the drawings and the specification similar numerals refer to similar parts.

Refrigerators are provided with a plurality of shelves stacked one above the other in spaced apart relation and when in place preclude a child from crawling inside the refrigerator. The shelves are usually formed oi spaced apart front and rear supporting bars the ends of which rest in sockets secured to the refrigerator side walls and a plurality of closely spaced smaller tie bars whose ends rest upon the supporting bars to which they are spot welded.

I believe it best to position the door closure preventive means D adjacent the bottom shelf S which is ordinarily placed about 6" above the refrigerator oor Fl (see Fig. 2) although it may be positioned adjacent the oor as shown in Fig. 7.

The shelf supporting bars 1 and 2 shown in Fig. 1 are about I/2 in diameter therefore there is a clear space 1/2 in depth below the shelf tie bars 3 which may be and is occupied by the door closure preventive ICC means operating-bar 4 which is shown of rectangular cross section but may be made channel-shape for stilness in wide refrigerators. This operating-bar 4 may ne formed integral with the door blocking-arm, or it may be formed as a separate member with down-turned end members 4A which may be spot-welded or otherwise secured to the door blocking-arms 5 which incidentally may be steel stampings. The operating-bar may be made in two pieces which may be adjustably secured together as shown in Fig. 7.

When made as a separate stamping the door blocking-arm 5 may be substantially Z-shape in form. To the upper rearwardly extending horizontal bar 6 of said Z-shape arm 5 is secured the down-turned end or depending leg 4A of the operating-bar 4. I prefer to provide a blocking-arm 5 adjacent each refrigerator side wall 7, therefore, the door closure preventive means assumes a U-shape appearance as shown in Fig. 2. The lower oppositely extending bar 8 of the Z-shape arm 5 has its outer end 8A bent at substantially aright angle to the rest of said arm and in a direction opposite to the operating-bar 4 so that it may lie against the face 9A of the door jamb 9. When said door jamb face 9A is not at a right angle to the inside face 7A of a refrigerator side wall 7 the outer end 8A of the Z-shape arm 5 is bent to correspond to the angularity or form of the refrigerator door jamb 9.

A hole 10 is provided in the body portion 5A of the blocking-arm 5 intermediate the upper and lower bar portions 6 and 8 thereof for the reception of the fulcrum pin 11 which may be secured to the refrigerator side wall 7 in any suitable manner. What is known as a Molly bolt designated as 12 in Fig. 4 has proved satisfactory when the installation of the device D is made in alreadybuilt refrigerators. The blocking-arm 5 is mounted to turn free on the fulcrum pin 11. Since the operatingbar end is the heavier it will move downwardly due to gravity, unless restrained, and as a consequence raise the opposite end'until the upper edge 8B of the bent portion orv end 8A of the Z-shape blocking-arm 5 comes into contact with the door jamb face 9A as shown by the broken line outline in Fig. 3. When in this position the portion 8A provides an intervening obstruction between the door 13 and its jambs 9 and hence the door 13 cannot be closed. It is to be noted that when the end 8A is shaped to provide the above contact the force exerted by the closing is taken by the refrigerator side walls 7 and not by the fulcrum pin 11 because said contact is made above the center of the fulcrum pin.

The heavy operating-bar end of the blocking-arm 5 is restrained from downward movement during the time a refrigerator is in every day use by the spring steel clip 14 one end of which is secured to the refrigerator side wall 7 or to the mounting pad 15 when the same is employed. The lower end of the clip 14 is shown semicircular in form to provide a grip so that the free end of said clip may be more easily moved away from the side wall 7 or the mounting pad 15 to enter portions of the blocking-arm 5 in the space therebetween. See Fig. `6. From this ligure it is to be noted that the clip 14 prevents the blocking-arm to be entered between the clip and its supporting structure unless and until the clip is manipulated to enter said blocking-arm. This clip 14 may be varied in form and other restraining means may be employed in lieu thereof to function for the same purpose. Only one type of restraining means has been illustrated.

With some refrigerators it may be desirable to mount the fulcrum pin 11 and the clip 14 on a mounting pad 15, preferably a steel stamping, which in turn is secured 3 to a refrigerator side wall 7 by any suitable means. Such a mounting is shown in Fig. 5.

The door closure preventive means may be of soft steel stampings plated or enameled or be of stainless steel.

A child attempting to enter a refrigerator'A will invariably crawl over a 6" high obstruction rather than attempt to crawl under it. When he does crawl over the operating-bar 4 the child is boundtol put some weight from some part of his body on said bar causing it to drop through gravity and bring the door-obstructing end 8A of the door blocking-arm 5 into Contact with the door jamb thus preventing the door from being closed intentionally or otherwise.

It is obvious that the design of my device may be changed somewhat so I do not limit myself to the exact design but extend the invention to all that comes fairly within the scope of the appended claims. A

What i claim as new over the prior art is:

l. The combination with a refrigerator having a door, door jambs, side walls, and a plurality of shelves having front and rear supporting bars positioned within said refrigerator and extending between the side walls thereof, of a door closure preventive means also positioned within the refrigerator comprising a substantially Z-shape blocking-arm adjacent and parallel to each refrigerator side wall each blocking-arm having abody portion and an upper bar extending from said body portion toward the rear of the refrigerator and a lower bar of greater width than thickness extending from said body -portion toward the front of the refrigerator and having its end portion bent to lie at against the face of the refrigerator side wall kdoor jamb in one position of the blocking-arm, the thickness of said bent portion being insucient to prevent closing of said door when the blockingarm is in said position, an operating-bar connected to the upper bar of the blocking-arms, fulcrum means on each side wall, positioned intermediate the upper and lower bars of each blocking-arm, pivotally mounting the blocking-arms for movement from said position to a second position in which the upper edge of the bent portion of the lower bar contacts the face of the refrigerator door jamb, with said bent portion at substantially right angles to and between the door and the face of said jambs to hold the door open a distance approximating the width of said bent portion of the lower bar of the blocking-arm and means for normally holding said blocking-arms in said rst position,Y but releasing said blocking-arms for movement to said second position when said operating-bar is moved downwardly, said operating-bar being so positioned as to be moved downwardly by one entering the refrigerator.

2. A door closure preventive means as specified in 4 claim 1 in which the blocking arms are formed of sheet metal.

3. A doorclosure preventive means as speciiied in claim 1 in which the operating bar thereof is positioned beneath the lowest refrigerator shelf and to the rear of its front supporting bar.

4. A door closure preventive means as speciiied in claim 1 in which the fulcrum means thereof is carried by a mounting pad supported by the refrigerator side wall adjacent said fulcrum means.

5. A door closure preventive means as specified in claim l in whichthe operating bar is formed with depending end portions secured to the upper bars of the spaced apart blocking-arms,

6. A door closure preventive means as speciiied in claim 1 in which the operating bar is formed in two sections detachably secured together and adjustable to overall length.

7. In a refrigerator having a door adapted to close againsta refrigerator side wall end, in combination, a

`blocking-arm substantially Z-shape in form having an upper bar extending in one direction and a lower bar extending in the opposite direction toward the front of the refrigerator said lower bar having greater width than thickness and having an outer end portion bent at substantially right angles to the rest of said bar to lie at against said side wall end in one position of said blocking-arm, the thickness of said bent portion being insuicient to prevent closing of said door when the blocking-arm is in said position, fulcrum means on said side wall intermediate the upper and lower bars of the blocking-arm, pivotallyfmounting the blocking-arm for movement from said position to a second position in which said bent portion extends outwardly from said side wall end at substantially right angles thereto to prevent accidental closure of the door, operating means connected to the upper bar of said blocking-arm, and means for normally holding said'blocking-arm in said first position, but releasing said blocking-arm for movement to said second position when said operating means is moved downwardly, said operating means being so positioned as to be moved downwardly by one entering the refrigerator.

References Cited in the le of this patent Y "UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,120,505 Johnson Dec. 8, 1914 1,547,999 Farabough h July 28, 1925 1,596,319 Smith Aug. 17, 1926 1,692,644 Lischke Nov. 20, 1928 2,729,487 Krause Jan. 3, 1956 ,2,783,722 Fletcher Mar. 5, 1957 2,818,825 p 1958 Marek Jan. 7, 

